Hurricane Irene

Matt willingly grilled us sausages during a break in the storm. It looks calm in the picture but the video I have shows the wind whipping. Those were some yummy sausages, cooked with courage and love ;-)

Downed power lines across the street. We found it humorous that the only car on the street parked right next to them... not in one of the other 10 spots that didn't have cut wires hanging down...

Escher is off to the beach to explore after the hurricane.

The pathway was covered in leaves. A neighbor was nice enough to bring his broom out and sweep them up. By the time we left the beach they were gone!

The storm left behind a bright blue sky, and a feeling that fall is right around the corner.

Our first discovery! A branch.

Our second discovery, waves! And Matt surfing them!

Its hard to see in such a small picture but Matt is right there tucked up under the barrel of the wave. Sweet ride, he was so happy!

The storm caused the beach to widen significantly, this was almost high tide!

Escher was of course excited to see that the rocks were peeking through, so he jumped for joy!

He was also very excited to find a "wock! wook mom wock!"

"Dude fro wock!"

There used to be gently sloping dunes and a wooden fence here. The storm surge cut a huge mark in the land.

When Matt saw this picture he said "typical surfing in Virginia Beach, always looking, waiting for the next wave that might not come"

Another discovery was this huge limb, which Escher immediately started calling "giwaff tick" (giraffe stick)

Right here, he is telling me about the "eaws and nowse" of the giraffe stick. I love watching his imagination at work! So fun!

We were very lucky to have gotten through Irene with the little trouble that we did. Because of the cut power line, we did lose our 240 power (grounded power) so we did not have AC, hot water, a stove or dryer, but we did have cable, internet and a fridge so we definitely couldn't complain. Hot showers did feel amazing though last night after Dominion came and fixed it. Hopefully the rest of hurricane season will go by quickly and quietly!